Abolish the Death Penalty

Abolish the Death Penalty is a blog dedicated to...well, you know.
The purpose of Abolish is to tell the personal stories of crime victims and their loved ones, people on death row and their loved ones and those activists who are working toward abolition. You may, from time to time, see news articles or press releases here, but that is not the primary mission of Abolish the Death Penalty. Our mission is to put a human face on the debate over capital punishment.

Monday, July 08, 2013

UPDATE at 3:10pm on July 18,2013: Max Blau‏@MaxBlauJudge Tusan: the Georgia law "unconstitutionally limits" #WarrenHill's access to courts and his Eighth Amendment rights.

Looks like Warren Hill will NOT be executed tomorrow night...

The
state of Georgia is once again in the spotlight regarding a death penalty case
which, when examined by anyone with a sense of justice, makes the Peach State
start reeking of even more rotten fruit.Or
perhaps a better analogy: strange fruit.

No, this
is not quite a lynching any more than any execution could be termed as such,
but Warren Hill now faces execution on Monday, July 15. Yes, Hill is guilty of
the murder which got him to death row, but we now know with certainty that his
execution would be in violation of a prohibition of capital punishment for
those found to have intellectual disability, which used to be referred to as “mental
retardation.”

Ironically,
Georgia was the first state to prohibit the execution of the intellectually
disabled. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed
the execution of such people in Atkins v.Virginia.

Still, Georgia
scheduled Mr. Hill’s execution date despite new findings from doctors who
previously testified as State experts that Mr. Hill does not have ‘mental
retardation’ (the legal term still used). Earlier this year, these three doctors
reviewed Mr. Hill’s case and revised their original diagnoses. Now, every
doctor who has examined him agrees: Mr. Hill has mental retardation. Even so Georgia
plans to move forward.

Of
course, the powers that be in Georgia just don’t seem to care what others
think.They executed Troy Davis nearly
two years ago now despite very real doubts about his guilt. More than 26 years
ago, Georgia killed Warren McKleskey after the U.S. Supreme Court denied relief
because doing so would have acknowledged the racism in our legal system. There’s
many other cases to discuss – they are all ugly with injustice.

Of course, all of this happens because the powers that be can
hide in the convoluted process of the law. In April this year, a Georgia court
ruled that it could not consider the new doctor findings because of procedural
barriers. In fact, no court has ever considered this critical new information
on its merits. With Mr. Hill days away from execution, it is unconscionable
that technicalities are standing in the way of fair review of the evidence.

In addition to the unanimous doctor diagnoses, Georgia courts
have also repeatedly found that Mr. Hill is intellectually disabled. In 2002,
and again in 2012, a Georgia state court judge affirmed that Mr. Hill is a
person with mental retardation – but said that Mr. Hill did not meet Georgia’s
unique standard for legally proving it – the strictest in the nation. Indeed,
Georgia is the only state in the
country that requires a defendant to prove mental retardation “beyond a
reasonable doubt.”

Now, as a result of procedural technicalities and the State’s
impossibly strict burden of proof, Georgia risks executing a person with clear
mental retardation.

That is why Mr. Hill’s case has received extensive and diverse
outpouring of support from mental health experts, intellectual disability
organizations, legal experts, several of the jurors from trial, and even
President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter. Notably, the family of the victim
also does not wish to see Mr. Hill executed, specifically citing his
intellectual disability.

Executing Warren Hill would violate the U.S. Constitution and be
yet another dark stain on the Georgia criminal justice system. Even conservative death penalty supporters are saying this. The courts should grant
a stay of execution to ensure that the State of Georgia does not put to death a
mentally retarded man.

Friday, April 15, 2011

“As we were about to finish the class this young girl raised her hand and said, ‘You have changed by mind. You have got to get around everywhere, you have got to give everybody this message.’ This is our First, Big, Public...: Here we are Folks and we mean it. It is not the end of our Journey, but it is a coming home. It feels that way to me. This Journey of Hope has got to go on until we reach real justice.”

--Marie Deans on the Indiana Journey of Hope - the first Journey, which was then a project of MVFR, which Marie founded in 1976.

Dear Friends,

Henry called a little while ago to share the news that Marie Deans died earlier this evening. R.I.P.

Once details are set, I'll share those here.

I know that many of you have no idea who Marie was - she's been pretty much out of the loop for a decade or more. Here's a bit... Click on the URL's to see images. For those of us who were around in the 70's, 80's, and 90's (I started in 1988 or so), this woman needs no introduction. Love her or hate her, there's no denying she made a big difference.

Marie Deans has been known as the “mother” of the anti-death penalty movement in Virginia. Since coming to Virginia in 1983, Marie has fought endlessly for legal access, more humane conditions on Virginia’s death row, and assuring legal representation for each condemned man. She provided assistance in over 220 trial level cases in Virginia, and only two of those defendants went to death row. She was part of the legal team in numerous clemency petitions, including those for Joe Giarratano, Earl Washington and Roger Coleman. She founded the Virginia Coalition on Jails and Prisons in 1983 and was forced to close its office in 1993 due to lack of funds. Having experienced the loss of her mother-in-law in 1972, Ms. Deans founded Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation in 1976.

In 1990 Marie Deans and Joe Ingle were honored by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty when they were presented the Abolitionist of the Year Award for their work with the Southern Coalition of Jails and Prisons.

Marie Deans realized the need for a group for murder victims family members who were opposed to the Death Penalty after her mother-in-law Penny was killed. Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation emerged as the first organization of its kind, murder victim family members against the Death Penalty.

Marie worked for many years with the Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons before concentrating on the Virginia Coalition on Jails and Prisons. Marie Deans was one of first abolitionists of the post-Furman era movement.

Marie has been a friend to many men on Virginia’s Death Row and has spent countless hours with their families around the times of their execution. 34 of Marie’s habeas clients asked her to stay with them on their deathwatches and until they were killed, and she did.

The Joe Giarratano case is one of Marie’s success stories

***

I did not get around to sending a note to Marie until today. She won't get it in the mail, but maybe she'll get it anyway.... Here's the part that demonstrates just one bit of how she lives on in our movement today....

Dear Marie,

I am so glad to be able to send you this little hug. I hope you are comfortable.

And I am glad you have some time to reflect a bit on the world of a difference YOU have made in so many lives. Marie, you inspired me in so many ways. Most notably, I can still see and hear the welcome you and Henry gave to the Virginia Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing in 1996, when you talked about the evolution of the name to Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. [VADP started as Virginians Against the Death Penalty, then became Virginians Against State Killing, and when the annual Quality of Life poll in Virginia started asking if people preferred executions or life imprisonment and more than 50% preferred the latter - way back in the early 1990's, then went with what Virginians wanted - the current VADP.] It was on that Journey that I was inspired to start up CUADP, and it was your experiences coupled with my own that led us to take that name – Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Of course, now that I’m at NCADP, CUADP has become defunct. BUT, I wonder if you know just how many others have followed in your footsteps with the “For Alternatives” motif. Let me tell you:

Following Virginians…For Alternatives to the Death Penalty

California Crime Victims… (and several local CA County Coalitions)California People of Faith...Citizens United…Coloradans…Floridians… (I started that one too!)Georgians…Louisiana Coalition…Missourians…New Jerseyans…New Yorkers…Oregonians…Pennsylvanians…South Dakotans…Tennesseans…Unitarian Universalists…Utahns…(I may be missing one or two)

And perhaps most notable of all, the collaborative of funders [supporting] our movement calls itself FADP – Funders for Alternatives to the Death Penalty!

SO, thank YOU for that.

***

I then went on to share with her a little about what MVFR is up to these days so that she can know the latest with her legacy, and shared some personal updates as well. I can't remember the last time I saw Marie, but I think it was at that VADP awards banquet referenced above. In any case, we should remember our elders in this movement....

Friday, October 09, 2009

October 10th marks the sixth anniversary of World Day Against the Death Penalty, an event begun by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to urge countries around the world that still implement capital punishment to abolish it.

We hope you can join us in observing World Day Against the Death Penalty this year by joining our “Shouting from the Rooftops” campaign. Read the article about Cameron Todd Willingham and share it with friends; write letters to the editors of your local newspapers, using our online tool; and make a video of yourself and your friends and family shouting from rooftops about Cameron’s case and calling for an end to the death penalty.

Each year, World Day has a theme, and this year the focus is on educating youth between 14 and 18. The goal is to teach young people – who will be the politicians, defendants, judges, attorneys and citizens of the future – that the death penalty is an attack on basic human rights. So when you do something especially meaningful this World Day Against the Death Penalty by “Shouting from the Rooftops,” don’t forget to involve your family members and friends!

As a community and farm worker organizer early in his career, Cesar E. Chavez studied Gandhi, King and others, building a solid foundationfor his nonviolent political/moral position.

When I first met Cesar I was not impressed by either his speaking style or his being a vegetarian. And he was far too religious for me. I did not understand how this humble man with an eighth grade education could plan to lead a revolution believing in and practicing nonviolence.

I was in my twenties and I wanted action… a revolution like Che’s.I wanted to confront those who did violence to our community with a taste of their own violence…

In later years I learned that his position of nonviolence was a wonderful place from which to respect all life - even the lives of those who hate you and what you stand for. On the picket lines Cesar would not let us respond with swear words and name calling to those who would call us by the worst of names. Instead he would make us shout to them in the following manner.

BROTHERS, SISTERS JOIN US … JOIN THE STRIKE … WE DON’T WANT TO HARM YOU… WE MUST ALL WORK TOGETHER FOR A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL FARMWORKERS…

So it was this calling of our enemy brother and sister that made us value their lives as much as we valued our own.

When some of our strikers were killed by agents of the growers Cesar instead lead us in prayer, forgiveness and a re-dedication to our strike, our boycott and our commitment to non-violence.

Cesar’s example turned the minds and hearts of young militants like me and many others from a road filled with revenge to one of forgiveness and reconciliation. At first it was hard to be non-violent but as the years and tests passed, I personally found a new freedom in forgiving and by loving my enemies. It is when you truly embrace non violence that you can find a peace and liberation that can help others to heal and live full lives.

Cesar today would have called Governor Bill Richardson and would have thanked him for abolishing the death penalty in New Mexico. And then would have asked him to make calls to convince the other governors.

He, Dolores, the Filipinos and others at the core of this non-violent movement encouraged that we all become strong and dedicated voices in our communities, for non-violence…

Friday, March 27, 2009

On Wednesday the Montana House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the death penalty repeal bill in that state. Click here for coverage from the Helena Independent Record. The committee is expected to vote next week.

The Montana Standard is running the death penalty as its Question of the Week. Go to that site, scroll down to find it on the right, and Vote for Abolition!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Last Friday, March 13, 2009, as I sat in the gallery of the New Mexico Senate listening to that body debate whether to pass a bill to repeal New Mexico’s death penalty statute, I felt very much like I had been there before. In fact, 15 months ago, December 13, 2007 I was in the gallery of the New Jersey Assembly listening to pretty much the same debate. As in New Jersey, New Mexico’s legislature sent the bill to the Governor’s desk, and today, Governor Richardson signed the bill. This makes New Mexico only the second state since 1965 to legislatively repeal its death penalty.

As a person who used to support the death penalty who is now working to abolish it, I feel both proud and privileged to have so far been a part of two successful repeal campaigns. It validates my own experience, clearly demonstrating that the more you know about the death penalty, the less you like it. I find validation in the years of daily grind, working on the front lines to sow and tend to the seeds of abolition, and helping other individuals and groups do so as effectively as possible. And it validates my experience that no one can do this alone – it takes a team of many, and it takes time.

To me, this victory comes not as a surprise, but with a very happy sigh of relief. Moving any bill through a legislature and all the way to an executive signature is no small feat. I’m relieved that we did it *this year*. I will not be surprised to see at least one more legislative repeal in another state this year, and I will not be surprised when we finish this job across this country sometime in the next decade or two.

We will finish this struggle. We will finish it just as long as leaders like the legislators who sponsored and pushed these bills in New Jersey and New Mexico continue to step forward. We will finish this struggle as long as people of faith and people of good conscience – regular people making themselves heard - continue to raise their voices in concert with all those who participated with the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty and its many coalition partners. We will finish this struggle as long as scholars continue to uncover the facts about the failures of the system. We will finish this struggle as long as more and more members of the law enforcement community continue to step up and show us how it is wrong and does not work as a tool to fight crime. We will finish this struggle as long as “Voices of Experience” like murder victim family members and survivors of wrongful conviction put an undeniable face on this issue.

We will finish this struggle because it is the common sense thing to do. Our challenge is to help more people understand why the death penalty is a bad public policy, and give greater backing to legislators and governors willing to stand up for what is right. Our challenge is to support the people and organizations doing this work day in and day out. Our challenge is make and keep a promise to leave this world a better place for our children by working to abolish the death penalty in the United States and worldwide. It’s just common sense.

Today is Abolition Day in New Mexico – March 18, 2009. I am keeping my promise.

Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty.

Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm believer in the death penalty as a justpunishment – in very rare instances, and only for the most heinous crimes. I still believe that.But six years ago, when I took office as Governor of the State of New Mexico, I started tochallenge my own thinking on the death penalty.

The issue became more real to me because I knew the day would come when one of twothings might happen: I would either have to take action on legislation to repeal the deathpenalty, or more daunting, I might have to sign someone’s death warrant.

I’ll be honest. The prospect of either decision was extremely troubling. But I was elected bythe people of New Mexico to make just this type of decision.

So, like many of the supporters who took the time to meet with me this week, I have believedthe death penalty can serve as a deterrent to some who might consider murdering a lawenforcement officer, a corrections officer, a witness to a crime or kidnapping and murderinga child. However, people continue to commit terrible crimes even in the face of the deathpenalty and responsible people on both sides of the debate disagree – strongly – on this issue.

But what we cannot disagree on is the finality of this ultimate punishment. Once a conclusivedecision has been made and executed, it cannot be reversed. And it is in consideration of this,that I have made my decision.

I have decided to sign legislation that repeals the death penalty in the state of New Mexico.Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in thecriminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to wholives and who dies for their crime. If the State is going to undertake this awesomeresponsibility, the system to impose this ultimate penalty must be perfect and can never bewrong.

But the reality is the system is not perfect – far from it. The system is inherently defective.DNA testing has proven that. Innocent people have been put on death row all across thecountry.

Even with advances in DNA and other forensic evidence technologies, we can’t be 100-percent sure that only the truly guilty are convicted of capital crimes. Evidence, includingDNA evidence, can be manipulated. Prosecutors can still abuse their powers. We cannotensure competent defense counsel for all defendants. The sad truth is the wrong person canstill be convicted in this day and age, and in cases where that conviction carries with it theultimate sanction, we must have ultimate confidence – I would say certitude – that the systemis without flaw or prejudice. Unfortunately, this is demonstrably not the case.

And it bothers me greatly that minorities are overrepresented in the prison population and ondeath row.

I have to say that all of the law enforcement officers, and especially the parents and spousesof murder victims, made compelling arguments to keep the death penalty. I respect theiropinions and have taken their experiences to heart -- which is why I struggled – even today –before making my final decision.

Yes, the death penalty is a tool for law enforcement. But it’s not the only tool. For somewould-be criminals, the death penalty may be a deterrent. But it’s not, and never will be, formany, many others.

While today’s focus will be on the repeal of the death penalty, I want to make clear that thisbill I’m signing actually makes New Mexico safer. With my signature, we now have theoption of sentencing the worst criminals to life in prison without the possibility of parole.They will never get out of prison.

Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect,my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps societysafe.

The bill I am signing today, which was courageously carried for so many years byRepresentative Gail Chasey, replaces the death penalty with true life without the possibilityof parole – a sentence that ensures violent criminals are locked away from society forever,yet can be undone if an innocent person is wrongfully convicted. More than 130 death rowinmates have been exonerated in the past 10 years in this country, including four NewMexicans – a fact I cannot ignore.

From an international human rights perspective, there is no reason the United States shouldbe behind the rest of the world on this issue. Many of the countries that continue to supportand use the death penalty are also the most repressive nations in the world. That’s notsomething to be proud of.

In a society which values individual life and liberty above all else, where justice and notvengeance is the singular guiding principle of our system of criminal law, the potential forwrongful conviction and, God forbid, execution of an innocent person stands as anathema toour very sensibilities as human beings. That is why I’m signing this bill into law.

The Albuquerque Journal started this poll sometime before midnight on the evening of March 16, 2009. On-line polls are notoriously unscientific - a measure of people who happen upon them and care to express their opinion. To its credit, the Journal put in a place a protection that allows only one vote per computer. There appears to be strong interest in the poll, and the percentages have been pretty steady since about 5pm on March 17. This snapshot of the poll results was grabbed at about 10:40am on March 18.

Amazingly, the above unscientific poll results mirror somewhat those of a scientific poll of likely New Mexico voters conducted by the New Mexico firm, Research & Polling, INC., completed in December, 2008. The 1st question below includes the concept of restitution combined with life in prison, and the 2nd shows simple preferences for life imprisonment without the concept of a restitution program.

And would you support or oppose replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without possibility of parole for people convicted of murder, plus restitution to the victim's family, meaning the prisoner would work in prison to pay compensation to the family of the murder victim?

Random Sample

64%Support*

29%Oppose

6%Don’t know/won’t say

Would you support or oppose replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without possibility of parole for people convicted of murder, meaning the person convicted would never be released from prison for the rest of his or her life?

Governor Bill Richardson Continues to Hear from New Mexicans Today on HB 285

SANTA FE – Governor Bill Richardson continues to hear from New Mexicans about a bill to repeal the death penalty and today released details on the more than 9,400 calls, emails and walk-ins he’s received on the issue. The Governor has heard from a total of 9,413 constituents who voiced their opinion on House Bill 285. Of those, 7169 were FOR the repeal of the death penalty and 2244 were AGAINST.

After lawmakers passed the bill on Friday, the Governor urged New Mexicans to call and email him on their thoughts of the bill. The Governor then met with more than 100 New Mexicans at his office on Monday, many of which had concerns either pro or con, the repeal of the death penalty.

The Governor has until midnight on Wednesday, March 18th to take action on HB 285.